Are you ready to be SLAVE to the rhythm next summer? Of course you are. It has been announced that the world’s longest-running artist-curated festival in the world will be taken over by one Miss Grace Jones next year. An international icon of music, fashion, art and film, Grace Jones will be at the helm of the Southbank Centre‘s Meltdown festival 2020.
Grace Jones is undoubtedly a queer icon, her androgynous fashion and unapologetic female power have served as inspiration for countless artists. She made her name by taking the fashion world by storm as one of the world’s first black supermodels before turning to music and signing to Island Records in 1977. The rest is history as she developed a distinct creative aesthetic that really gave a middle finger to the status quo. From Basquiat and Warhol to Thierry Mugler and Lady Gaga, her influence is far-reaching and fiercely trail-blazing. Now in her seventies, she continues to serve as inspiration for not giving a single f**k after reportedly leaving the set of a new James Bond film after discovering her role was only a brief cameo.
From the 12th until the 21st of June, the UK’s largest arts centre will be in Jones’ hands to do with what she pleases. Her distinctly unique creative vision will be giving birth to a ten-day playbook of events, concerts and happenings, inviting emerging talent and fellow icons to perform in the centre’s iconic venues. Each performer will be hand-picked by Janes and invited to perform special one-off collaborations on the stages of the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room.
The Meltdown festival has seen many iconic names take the helm as curator, with the likes of David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Nick Cave and Patti Smith taking on the role, and most recently Nile Rodgers who etched out this year’s 2019 program.
Glittering with excitement, Grace Jones shared:
“I am honoured to be curating next year’s Meltdown festival. Year after year, the festival continues to spread its colourful wings, allowing its curators to bring together an array of diverse talent not seen anywhere else. It’s about time I was asked to curate Meltdown darling, don’t you think?!”
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